


What Matters in the End

by TheSecondBatgirl



Category: Power Rangers Dino Thunder
Genre: Character Study, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-12-15
Updated: 2011-12-15
Packaged: 2017-10-27 09:25:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 550
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/294214
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheSecondBatgirl/pseuds/TheSecondBatgirl
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>This was not how Conner expected his senior year to go.</p>
            </blockquote>





	What Matters in the End

Conner was really not sure that he could do this. Yeah, so he was a Power Ranger or something now, and that was cool, but he had a reputation to keep up. Ethan was a geek and Kira was.... well, she was slightly more acceptable. But going to a _cyber cafe_? That was totally uncool.

Conner knew quite well what his friends would think of him if he was seen hanging out with Ethan. Or worse, if he was seen hanging out with a _teacher_. He had everything right now - senior year was supposed to be perfect. Everything was planned out.

Everything besides becoming a Ranger.

He could always skip. There were plenty of excuses that he could give them. He had detention. He had soccer practice. He got attacked by those weird monster things again. They would probably buy any of those excuses, but something was preventing him from giving them.

He didn't want to let Ethan or Kira, or even Doctor Oliver, down.

Making up his mind, he grabbed a jacket and headed to the address that Ethan had sent him.

*

Conner had gotten a lot of ribbing from the other guys on the soccer team once he'd started hanging around Ethan and Kira, and even more of it when they'd first noticed that he was voluntarily spending time with a teacher. He had expected all of this, but he hadn't realized how much it would hurt. Not him, really. It hurt when he watched Ethan get tripped by his teammates. It hurt whenever he heard a comment aimed at Kira. It even hurt whenever he heard someone complaining about how hard Dr. O's class was and how he was unfair, even though they were right, and it was a hard class. At least Conner had a reason to care about dinosaurs, most of his classmates were just bored.

He just didn't know what he could do about it. He could try and make his teammates cut out the teasing, but that didn't seem to be helping much. If anything, it seemed to make it worse for a while. He could only watch as Ethan took care of things himself.

Some part of him kept thinking that he was supposed to be protecting them, that he was the Red, the leader, but he had no idea how to do it. And he knew that on some level they didn't want his help - that they were sure that they could take care of themselves. Or that it didn't bother them at all - that only Conner had a problem with what Ethan would call their lack of social status.

*

At the beginning of the year, Conner had plans for prom. They had mostly involved hanging out with his friends on the soccer team, and probably a cheerleader. Maybe he'd even be prom king. He hadn't thought he'd end up at prom with an environmentalist chick. He really hadn't thought that he'd be applauding Kira Ford, trading jokes with Trent Fernandez, or hanging out with Ethan James. He definitely wouldn't have been caught dead talking to his teacher.

But somehow, Conner knew that he wouldn't trade any of the last year for anything in the world.

He'd found his true friends, his family. It just hadn't been quite what he'd expected.


End file.
